The Ijaw Youth Council has urged the Federal Government to dismantle the military occupation of the Ijaw nation and the Niger Delta and stop laying siege on communities in the area.
The group condemned what it described as the indiscriminate military invasions and genocide in Ijaw and Niger Delta communities perpetrated by federal troops under the guise of searching for suspected oil thieves and militants.
A spokesman for the IYC, Ebilade Ekerefe, who stated this during a world press conference in Ijaw House, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, at the weekend, urged the Federal Government to demobilise troops from Ijaw communities and the Niger Delta without delay.
He said, “We have watched with restraint the murderous destruction of communities, the killings and maiming of innocent and harmless children, men and women, including the elderly, under the pretense of going after unrepentant militants and oil thieves.
“We want to place it on record that Nigeria’s colonizing Joint Task Force has, in the past fifteen years, decimated our defenseless populations in more than eighty Ijaw villages, towns, and cities.
“The communities that have fallen victims in the past include Gbaramatu in Delta State, Odi, Odioma, Gbaran, Ogboinbiri, Kaiama, Ndoro, Liama, Okpoama, Obioku, Yenagoa, Amara, Ekeki, Opolo, Agudama, Epebu, Oluasiri, Okolobiri, Mbiama, Azuzuama, Ologoama Oboro, Ogodobiri, Peretorugbene, Warri Corner, Okerenkoko, Torugbene, Ogulagha, Odimodi, Okigbene, Olugbobiri, Olugboboro, Ikebiri, Nembe Town, Ferebaghagbene, Okokodiagbene, Oproza, Ogbe-Ijo, Burutu, Ekeremor Zion, Sagbama, Aven, Patani, Amabulu, Peremabiri, Obama, Age, Fishtown, Koluama, Okrika, Bonny, Ataba, Omelema, Degema, Kula, Soku Elem-Sangama, Opobo, Abula, Amadi-ama, Buguma and most recently, Letugbene, Azagbene, Bilabiri, Igbomotoru Bille, Touma, and Odouda.
“These are just some of the Ijaw communities that the Nigerian state has razed in recent history for unjustifiable reasons. The relentless genocidal military campaign against our people will continue to remain a dark shadow in our heart.”
According to the council, the killing and maiming of people and the burning down of communities by the Nigerian military at the slightest provocation by criminal elements were a huge threat to the peace and stability of the region.
